Workast Help Center

Create Workast Guidelines

After you've invited your team to Workast, it's a good idea to get everyone on the same page on a few key points and guidelines. Establishing some easy to follow conventions early on will help keep the transition to Workast smooth and clear, and make everyone feel comfortable that they are doing the right thing.

The best time to talk about Workast guidelines is fairly soon introducing your team to Workast. Give people enough time to try Workast so they are familiar with it, but not enough time to form habits. Invite the team to get together to discuss what works for them, and what doesn't. You can even create a project or space for your guidelines!

Your guidelines need to reflect your team, and will be unique, but here's a few suggestions to help get your guidelines going:

Task Guidelines

Creating and Assigning Tasks

We suggest that everyone be allowed to create tasks and assign then to anyone on the team. That will empower all members of your team to help move tasks forward, and also help Workast seem more user friendly.

Naming Tasks

Having tasks that are action based and specific will make them much more clear for team members assigned to and following the task. For example "Reply to John Smith's email re invoice discrepancy" would be a lot more specific than "Reply to John."

Making an Effective Task

We suggest that your team come up with a consensus of what makes for an effective task - one that is precise and streamlined, and will allow the assignee to begin work immediately. You can add a description, assignees, a due date, followers, comments, tags and subtasks to every task. We suggest the following to help ensure that the tasks that you create are effective:

Set realistic due dates

Add followers to keep team members in the loops and to assist with questions

Attach files to tasks in the web app for easy reference

When using subtasks, make sure there is enough context from the parent task and in the subtask description. Don't let subtasks get buried under so many layers.

Managing your tasks

When you are assigned a task, it becomes your responsibility to see it through to completion. Here's some easy ways to keep your team in the loop:

If you have a question, or an update, comment directly in the task. You can do so either in Slack or in the web app, and all task followers will receive the update.

If you reassigned the task, or changed the due date, add a comment explaining the need for the change.

If you aren't able to complete the task, assign the task back to the creator as soon as you can, again, with a comment explaining that you won't be able to complete the work and asking that it be reassigned.

Space Guidelines

Just like tasks, all team members are able to create a new space. Depending on your team's culture, it may be preferred for only a few members to create and set up spaces for your collaboration, projects, and events. Our space management tips include:

Create space specific tags to help organize your workflow. Tags can be used label task status such as "High Priority" or "On Hold." as well as categorize tasks in other ways such as "VIP Client" or "Requires Management Approval."

Reinforcing Your Guidelines

Setting guidelines for your team will help keep your Workast organized, clear, and will help every member contribute to your team's acceptance of Workast. Set up a few of the more experienced Workast users as resources for questions and tips, so people know where to turn while they are learning.

Once you have your guidelines set, you can create their space and post them, so that your whole team can reference them easily.